Putin’s Endgame in Ukraine

Many outside observers have been scratching their heads over President Putin’s recent actions in Ukraine, with two questions coming up time and time again.

The first question is: What exactly is Putin trying to achieve? And it’s an understandable one given the often conflicting signals that the Russian administration has been sending since the outbreak of the crisis – one second Moscow is posturing for a diplomatic solution, and the next it’s hammering nails into the coffin of a ceasefire it was instrumental in bringing about in the first place.